SYNOPSIS:
Holy,
a dedicated police constable, patrols the island unwaveringly
despite the raging thunderstorms and discovers four escaped
convicts hiding on the island. With the help of Bruce, a mysterious
Kung-fu master who saved her before, she arrests all of them
and Bruce becomes a model citizen. However the tranquility
of the island is upset by the arrival of a group of shady
people believed to be connected to a crime syndicate who are
looking for Bruce. Soon, a headless corpse is discovered and
Bruce is nowhere to be found...
MOVIE REVIEW:
Both Jet Li and Jacky Wu Jing have lots in common. They came
from the same Beijing Wushu Team, have decent boyish looks
and both carved a career out of acting. While Jet Li achieved
almost instant stardom with "Shaolin Temple", Jacky
Wu Jing is yet a household name despite his decade plus years
in the movie industry.
In
"Legendary Assassin", Wu Jing made his co-directorial
debut with Nicky Li, the team leader of Jackie Chan’s
stuntman team and stunt coordinator for movies such as "Invisible
Target" and "Connected". Wu plays Bo, a mysterious
man who hacked off the head of a certain mafia boss named
Chairman Ma which in turn trigger off a chain of events that
follow. With an impeding typhoon, Bo is stuck on the island
while Ma’s henchmen played by Lam Suet and Tin Kai Man
are hot on the trail of their boss’s murderer. Still,
Bo manages to have a romantic liaison with a policewoman Holy
played by newcomer Celina Jade in this underwhelming 89 minutes
movie.
The
screenplay obviously has problems deciding to be a Johnny
To’s quirky dark crime thriller or a straight out kick-assed
action piece. Aside from the shocking opening, the movie spends
a huge portion of its time leisurely on Bo, Holy and the cops
at the police station while the bad guys, Lam and Tin went
around the island searching for the missing head a la "PTU"
where the characters roam around in search for a missing pistol.
Fung Chi Keung who is credited for the screenplay seems yet
to walk out of To’s shadow since the last screenplay
he did prior was To’s "Sparrow".
In
addition, giving more screen allowance to show Wu’s
softer side as an actor can turned out to be a tad frustrating
as the Beijing born martial-arts artiste remains as aloof
as ever and spouting dialogues to the minimum. Looking back
at his career, the characters he played can be classify as
follows - aloof villain, aloof fighter, aloof henchman. Just
watch "SPL", "Fatal Contact" and "Fatal
Move" if you doubt my observation.
Kung
Fu fans will be disappointed with the amount of action displayed
in "Legendary Assassin". Wu is as agile as ever,
his kicks simply marvelous but compared to the flashy moves
in "SPL" and "Invisible Target", he pathetically
has little to show here. The fight at the noodle restaurant
with the gigantic baddie fails to stir up any excitement and
the finale fight which took place in a downpour seems like
a haphazard mess as if the movie ran out of budget halfway.
Wu
and Li managed to assemble a cast of familiar veteran actors
including Lam Suet, Mark Cheng, Ken Lo and Hui Shiu Hung for
their directorial debut but let down by the weak plotting,
their indecisive choreography and even the man himself, Wu
Jing fails to deliver the punch which this movie desperately
needs.
Like
Jet in his younger years, Jacky has yet scoured a role that
propels his flagging career. Tsui Hark’s "Once
Upon A Time in China" determines Jet Li as a true action
star and all Wu Jing needs right now is the perfect director
with the perfect script for him.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
An English voiceover trailer (apparent targeted at
the Western crowd) comes with this Code 3 DVD.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The
DVD comes with a choice of Chinese or Cantonese Dolby 2.0
and Dolby 5.1 soundtracks. I suggest you chose the original
Cantonese 5.1 track to give your system a better boast in
the bass.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
Posted
on 26 May 2009 |
